The six spellings on the calligraphy sheet
A 6-mark orthography test asks candidates to copy six words in naskh: إستقبال، شيئ، مدرسه، علي (the preposition), القران، مسئلة. One student's sheet is visually strong: the letters are evenly spaced, the kashida is controlled, and the dots are clear. But she has written the six words exactly as listed, and the teacher must decide whether the errors are spelling errors or acceptable calligraphic variants. The school's calligraphy club has taught her to elongate connections for beauty, and she argues that the long strokes are allowed. The teacher has 35 scripts, a red pen, and a departmental instruction to award marks for 'correct Arabic orthography and neat naskh' without separating the two components.
1. Identify each of the six errors, give the correct spelling, and name the rule in one line.
Read the worked answer
- إستقبال → استقبال. Hamzat wasl: the hamza is not written with a hamza sign; it is pronounced only when starting speech.
- شيئ → شيء. Hamza after a yā' sākinah is written on the line, not on the yā'.
- مدرسه → مدرسة. The word ends in tā' marbūṭa, not hā'; the tā' is written ة even though it is pronounced -a in pause.
- علي → على. The preposition ends in alif maqṣūra, not yā'.
- القران → القرآن. Hamzat qaṭ' must be written with the hamza sign; it is always pronounced.
- مسئلة → مسألة. The hamza is written on alif, not on yā'; the following vowel is fatḥa, so the alif is the appropriate seat.
Pattern: four errors are seat-of-hamza or wasl/qat' errors; two are letter-shape errors (tā' marbūṭa, alif maqṣūra). Record them separately.
2. How would you teach hamzat wasl vs hamzat qat' using two of these words, in a way that also respects calligraphy?
Read the worked answer
Use استقبال and القرآن as the contrast pair.
- Wasl test: Put وَ before each word. In وَاسْتَقْبَلَ the hamzat wasl is dropped in pronunciation and not written as a hamza; in وَالْقُرْآنُ the hamzat qaṭ' remains and is always pronounced. This is the functional difference, not a decorative one.
- Calligraphy rule: A long kashida or a decorative curve may change the look of a letter, but it cannot add or remove a hamza seat. If the hamza is wrong, the word is wrong, however beautiful the stroke.
- Quick check: Ask students to read the two words after وَ; if they pronounce the hamza, it is qaṭ'; if they glide past it, it is wasl.
Why this respects calligraphy: the lesson separates style (spacing, elongation, dot placement) from orthography (the skeletal letters and hamza). A calligrapher may vary the first but not the second.
3. Design a 6-mark rubric that separates orthography from neat naskh, and say how the candidate's sheet should score.
Read the worked answer
Rubric (6 marks):
- 3 marks - orthography: 0.5 per word for the six correct spellings. No half mark for a word with two errors.
- 1 mark - letter forms: correct naskh shapes (initial/medial/final), no confusing rā'/zā', etc.
- 1 mark - dots: all dots present and clearly placed.
- 1 mark - spacing and kashida: even baseline, controlled elongation, no overlapping.
Candidate's score: 0/3 orthography (all six are misspelled), 1/1 letter forms, 1/1 dots, 1/1 spacing = 3/6. Feedback: visual quality cannot compensate for spelling; she must rewrite the six words correctly before the next calligraphy piece. Policy note: if the department insists on a single holistic mark, report the split internally so the student knows why 3/6 was awarded.